Abasto Magazine

ENGLISH BONUS ProMéxico ceases operations, embassies will take over By Hernando Ramírez-Santos P roMéxico's 46 offices around the world ceased all their operations at the end of Februar y. Since 2007, this government entity was responsible for promoting trade, exports and internation- alization of Mexican companies, a work that stood out by promoting the presence of dozens of Mexican companies in the most important food and beverage shows in the United States. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador ordered the closure of ProMéxico and entrusted the embassies with the mission of promoting the coun- try's economy abroad. e Instituto Nacional del Emprendedor (Inadem), which was established to support entrepreneurs and micro, small and medium-sized Mexican companies, will also stop operations. e Ministry of Economy will take over the functions of that agency. "I say it in a respectful way, there is not here in Mexico City and in the country, a ProFrancia, a ProAlemania, it is the embassies of those countries that do the promotion work; that's why we will not have ProMéxicos in 60 cities around the world, "said President López Obrador, during the X X X Meeting of Ambassadors and Consuls. ProMéxico funds will be used for the construction of the Mayan Train and thus better promote the country's tourism, the President explained. e construction project consist in more than 1,500 kilo- meters of railroads to connect the entire Yucatán peninsula. e Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) had proposed to the Congress of the Union a budget of $908.8 million pesos in 2019 for ProMéxico. e Secretary of Economy of Mexico, Graciela Márquez Colín, told the Mexican media that the Innovation and Promotion Unit w il l be established to replace ProMéxico and Inadem. Márquez Col ín pointed out t hat ProMéxico did not meet the needs of the country, because approximately eight out of 10 projects that were supported had to do only with the automotive industry and the majority was for large companies such as BMW and "could have been more effec- tive for other chains of value". ProMé x ico was headed by Pau lo Carreño. e agency employed about 200 workers in Mexico City and its 28 regional offices. According to its website, between 2013 and 2018 it attracted investments of $87,932 million pesos, promoted the creation of 316,067 jobs and also promoted 5,028 ex port projects worth $18,051 million pesos. "e disappearance of ProMéxico is one of the major issues that is affecting the export sector and generates prob- lems for micro, small and medium-sized companies that want to venture into the international market," said Juan Carlos Botello Osorio, researcher at the Faculty of Commerce and International Strategy from Universidad Popular Autónoma de Puebla, according to Milenio. e researcher believes that although the Mexican government ordered embassy personnel to be trained to advise busi- ness owners interested in exporting, as ProMéxico did, the learning curve will be slow and this will paralyze the activities of these companies outside the country. During the Ambassadors and Consuls Meeting, held in Mexico City at the beginning of January, the Ministries of Economy and Foreign Affairs signed a Collaboration Agreement transferring functions of export promotion and attrac- tion of Foreign Direct Investment. According to El Economista, the agree- ment signed between the two Ministries provides a framework for action to imple- ment a strategy for Mexico's economic promotion worldwide, which "optimizes resources" and places as priority axes the support to Mexican companies to join the chains global value, in particular to micro, small and medium enterprises, as well as the increase of national content in exports. 74 abasto.com | Marzo/Abril 2019

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